Pinterest may not claim Facebook-levels of users, but a few visionary retailers are using the hot social networking site to connect with their customers in a way that Facebook could only dream of. From Aritzia to eBay, Pinterest is offering the digital equivalent of window shopping for people around the world.

Interact, engage, and network. If you can't meet your customers face-to-face, meet them Facebook-to-Facebook. Start conversations, reply to comments, and keep your users engaged with organic content that best represents your brand.

A recent study discovered that Twitter users who see a retailer's tweet are more likely to visit their retail websites and make online purchases. This article made me consider the impact of a tweet on online retailers.

Mountain Equipment Co-op CEO David Labistour says the fast pace of technological change across society has also changed the retail sector in profound ...

Online shopping and the eCommerce industry has been growing in popularity over the past few years. For those who have converted to online shopping, their number one reason for buying online will be convenience followed by product variety and availability. It makes me wonder; what about the offline shoppers?

One would think that, as the global economy struggles to recover, businesses would be looking at all opportunities to expand, be more competitive, bring in more customers and reduce costs. Online retailing seems to make sense in this climate. Heck, I won't even go to a restaurant without first checking out menus and reviews online.

In 2013 more consumers than ever before shifted their retail spending online. Not surprisingly, this coincided with a groundswell of interest and innovation occurring for ecommerce transactions in Canada. Canadian retailers are trying to reach out to the online Canadian consumer and get them spending their money in the Canadian economy.

As the founder and CEO of Canada's largest online shopping website, SHOP.CA, I've seen and heard it all, so let's take a look at the Top four fears and hesitations around online shopping and my advice to help ease some of those anxieties.

Retailers in Canada and the U.S. eked out modest gains this season in part because shoppers are bored. To reignite retail in this country, we need a product design revolution. Take a quick look at who's winning in retail and it becomes clear that product design and the retail environment play a very big part.

This week I spoke to Andrea Lown of SmartBride about her entrepreneurial journey. It was Andrea Lown's own experience planning her wedding which led her to start a business helping brides lessen the burden. Andrea's enterprising idea caught on, and now SmartBride successfully matches up buyers and sellers every day to help their big day make good financial sense.

This week I spoke with a group of seemingly unlikely entrepreneurs who have struck it big in the world of plush monsters. Adam Dunn and Rhya Tamasauskas of Monster Factory spoke to me recently about making a profitable company out of fabric, fibre fill, and a sewing machine. Yet, Adam and Rhya did not set out originally to build monsters.

Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and Chief Operating Officers (COOs) are increasingly accountable for sustainability. A study by Deloitte -- Sustainability: CFOs are coming to the table -- found their accountability for sustainability had jumped sharply during the last year. Here are some of the drivers for the CFO's involvement in sustainability.

A shopper will saunter over to the kitchen appliances section, whip out their smartphone, scan the UPC symbol on a food processor, and walk out. What just happened? Their phone just looked up that processor and told the shopper where they can get it within a three-minute walk. Welcome to the terrifying new world of retail and declining brand loyalty.

MONTREAL - A majority of Canadians surveyed by the Bank of Montreal say they shop to cheer themselves up and mood-lifting impulse purchases cost Canad...

Marshalls showed up last year, as did J. Crew. Ann Taylor is planning to open its first store outside the U.S. in Toronto this year, and Target Canada...

MONTREAL - Clothing retailer Reitmans says a tough economy is leaving consumers with less disposable income for clothes, creating a retail climate tha...

MONTREAL - Quebec has come out swinging against a $1.76-billion bid for Canada's largest home improvement company by U.S.-based Lowe's, which is expec...

Retail has been turned on its head. Consumers are actively using mobile devices in larger stores to access hundreds of e-commerce, forums and social sites that hold product information, reviews and competitive pricing. What to do to counter this? Well, we need to arm salespeople with mobile devices that give them that extra advantage and ignore the hard sell and just be really personable and informative using external and internal resources.

OTTAWA - Identical widescreen TVs, bottles of hair conditioner and even painkillers cost Canadian shoppers more than their American neighbours despite...

OTTAWA -- Statistics Canada says retail sales slipped 0.2 per cent to $38.9 billion in February, largely offsetting a gain in January. New-car sale...

Recently, a very senior marketing professional who works at one of the world's largest corporations was recounting a story of how they saw a postal truck outside of their corporate head offices in Silicon Valley, and every single parcel that was being offloaded from this truck was from Amazon. He thought to himself: "This is the what retail looks like in 2012."

OTTAWA - Canada's economy started off the year on positive, if tentative, footing in January, registering a modest 0.1 per cent gross domestic product...